The Tidewell Foundation invites the local community to help provide gifts for grieving children and families this holiday season. Gifts benefit local families enrolled in Tidewell’s Blue Butterfly program.

Each holiday season, the Tidewell Foundation asks the children in the Blue Butterfly program to share their personal gift wish lists. The foundation then works with individuals, businesses and community groups across Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties to ensure that each child and family receives their gifts, which are handed out during a holiday carnival held just for them. Tidewell’s Blue Butterfly program has expanded into new communities to serve more families in 2021, heightening the need for gifts this year. The foundation will supply donors with wish lists for the children and families they are shopping for. Donors can shop for as many children and families as they wish. All items should be unwrapped but labeled with the recipient’s name and delivered to either of the following locations by Friday, Dec. 10:

Tidewell’s Blue Butterfly program: 6800 Professional Parkway, Lakewood Ranch, FL 34240

The Tidewell Family Grief Center: 4151 37th St. E., Palmetto, FL 34221

Donors can also sponsor a family or multiple families through cash donations the Tidewell Foundation will use to purchase gifts on their behalf. Cash donations must be made by Wednesday, Dec. 1 to give the Tidewell Foundation’s colleagues enough time to shop for gifts. For more information, click here.